A government bill is a
bill
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Plac ...
which is proposed, introduced or supported by a
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
in their country's
legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
. It is most significant in the
Westminster system where most bills are introduced by the government. This is in contrast to
private member's bills which are introduced by members of the legislature who are not part of the executive or cabinet.
Usually, constitutional systems that forbid members of the government from simultaneously being members of the legislature, such as
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
and the
Netherlands
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, give the government
the right to initiate bills in its own right to allow it to introduce government bills. However, in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, the right to introduce bills is only given to members of Congress, who cannot simultaneously serve in the executive branch, and the government can only introduce bills "by proxy", via its congressional backers.
Government bills are usually
public bill
Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single p ...
s and are often introduced into the chamber of government (in a
bicameral system
Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single grou ...
) on which confidence the Government depends (in
parliamentary
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
and
semi-presidential systems
A semi-presidential republic, is a republic in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature of the state. It differs from a parliamentary republic in that it has ...
). In the UK, forthcoming government bills are often listed in the
Queen's Speech, a
speech from the throne which precedes each session of Parliament.
See also
*
Right of initiative (legislative)
The right of (legislative) initiative is the constitutionally defined power to propose a new law (bill) in a legislature.
The right of initiative is usually given to both the government (executive) and individual legislators.
However, some syst ...
*
Private member's bill
References
Westminster system
Proposed laws
Statutory law
Legislatures
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